FEMA is attempting to schedule a remote home inspection for some residents of Bradley and Hamilton counties who reported damage from the April 12-13 tornadoes, but has been unable to reach them. After registering for federal disaster assistance, it is important that FEMA be able to contact you. Be aware that phone calls from FEMA may appear to come from unidentified numbers ... (click for more)

East Ridge Wally's had a soft re-opening earlier this week as the venerable restaurant tries to re-invent itself from a buffet-centered operation to a "meat and three" diner. Longtime owner Glen Meadows said he and his faithful staff "are ready to give it a try." After a strange new highly contagious virus closed the doors in March, Mr. Meadows had a brief attempt at carry ... (click for more)

Since its inception, Friends of the Festival seemed bound and determined to make Riverbend a national event, ignoring the opinions of many Chattanoogans. Riverbend started as a local event drawing on the tastes and desires of local citizens yet has devolved into an outrageously expensive, super-crowded two-week-long free-for-all. Riverbend has drastically deviated from its original ... (click for more)

By ordinary standards it might be best described as one of life’s worst 1-2 punches, a pair of hard, personal blows that drop you to your knees. True, each devastating blow was uncommonly back to back. But, no, when I learned Wednesday morning that college football icon Johnny Majors had died just some 48 hours after another legend, Auburn’s Pat Dye, it was as though I’d been hit ... (click for more)

It was not the first time I had seen Spanish moss streaming down from a tree, but I know it was the first time it had caught my eye in such an impressionable way that scorching July day in the summer of 1988. The big majestic cypress trees which framed the picturesque Louisiana State University campus were full of the stuff, and in a way it reminded me of days past when I had seen ... (click for more)

Johnny Majors, a star running back for the University of Tennessee who later coached the Vols for 15 years, has died a few days after his 85th birthday. His wife, Mary Lynn, said, "It's with a sad heart that we make this announcement. John passed away this morning. He spent his last hours doing something he dearly loved: looking out over his cherished Tennessee River." Majors ... (click for more)